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Interesting Events In the World

Tomatina Festival, Spain

La Tomatina is a food fight festival held on the last Wednesday of August each year in the town of Buñol in the Valencia region of Spain. Tens of metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes are thrown at each other in the streets during this day. The week-long festival features music, parades, dancing, and fireworks among other things. On the night before, participants of the festival compete in a paella cooking contest. This festival started in a casual way in 1945, but wasn't officially recognized until 1952.

Every year, on the first Sunday of September, the Historical Regatta is held in Venice. Hundreds of Venetians pile into the long boats that have plied the city's canals for centuries for the 'Regata Storica' (Historical Regatta), a historical procession that commemorates the welcome given to Caterina Cornaro, wife of the King of Cyprus, in 1489 after she renounced her throne in favour of Venice.

The spectacular historical water pageant is driven by gondoliers wearing historic costume carrying the Doge, the Doge’s wife and all the highest ranking Venetian officials up the Grand Canal in a brightly coloured parade. This is followed by four separate boat races. The winners are awarded flags in place of medals. Until few years ago, together with the symbolic prizes, there were also some kind of awards; the most famous of them was a little living pig, that would parade on a gondola of its own. The pig ceremony has been abolished since few years ago after protests by some animal protection organizations. PETA is always ruining the fun

The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual event which since 1964 has taken place on the streets of Notting Hill, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea , London. The event is held each August, over two days and is led by members of the British African-Caribbean community, particularly the Trinidadian and Tobagonian British population or 'Trinis', many of whom have lived in the area since the 1950s. The carnival has attracted up to 2 million people in the past, making it the second largest street festival in the world after the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival held in that country.

The traditional Frog Jump festival was held on August 15, 2010, in Valley City, Ohio. For more than 45 years, Valley City has been jumping for joy when frogs take to the pavement to test their leg strength in a peculiar festival that celebrates their leaping abilities. More than two thousand people gather annually to partake in the fun. Frog owners often bring their slimy competitors in old coffee cans, coolers and jars. There are about 600 frogs entered into the contest by toddlers, retirees and everyone in-between. Trophies are awarded to the winners. Food, beverage and souvenirs are available as well as music and games.

The organizers say:

"The purpose of the Frog Jump Festival is to have a thoroughly enjoyable family fun day for the community and for our visitors. Our measure of success comes when we see kids, parents and grandparents all leave happily at the end of the day, satisfied, with full tummies, and glad they attended again this year. Some are lucky enough to be carrying one or more trophies. It is also the major fund raising event of the year for the Chamber. These funds are then used to benefit the community."

The Cucumber festival is held each year in the month of July in the own of Suzdal in Russia, to celebrate the versatility and economic importance of the humble cucumber.

The Cucumber festival helps people enter into the “high” spirit of Cucumber. Townfolks gather on the “cucumber backyard” and play the best folklore groups of Vladimir region. Artists from other Russian regions are arrive to take part in this festival. Every year guests take away new souvenirs from this festival - cucumbers made of wood, loam, patcher and paper. Some of the delicacies on display included cucumbers on toast and cucumber jam.

The annual International Festival of Sand Sculpture was held recently in In St. Petersburg. Subject of the festival was “World cinema”. Among the participants were Russia, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Finland, Czech Republic, Latvia, Germany, France and several others.

Spanish men and women celebrating the annual festival of San Fermin. As mentioned, one of the core attraction of the festival is bull running

The running of the bulls involves hundreds of people running in front of six bulls and another six steers down an 825-meter stretch of narrow streets of a section of the old town of Pamplona. The run ends in the Pamplona's bullring taking a mean time of around 3 minutes where the bulls are held until the afternoons bullfight when they would be killed.

Bull running is a very dangerous event. Since 1925, 15 people have been killed during the event and every year between 200 and 300 people are injured during the run.

Every year during the month of June, the Spanish village of Castrillo de Murcia near Burgos holds its traditional Baby-Jumping Festival as part of its Corpus Christi celebrations. During the act, known as El Colacho, men dressed as the Devil (known as the Colacho) leaps over babies born during the previous twelve months of the year who lie on mattresses in the street.

The Catholic festival of Corpus Christi is celebrated all over Spain with processions, mystery plays and a wide variety of popular celebrations, but this bizarre tradition is seen only in Castrillo de Murcia. The tradition dates back to 1620, although the origins are vague. It is believed that as the incarnate devils jump they take all their evil with them and the children are cleansed.

Ear Pull is an unusual sporting event played at the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics. The object is to tests the competitors' ability to endure pain. In the ear pull, two competitors sit facing each other, their legs straddled and interlocked. A two-foot-long loop of string, similar to a thick, waxed dental floss, is looped behind their ears, connecting right ear to right ear, or left to left. The competitors then pull upon the opposing ear using their own ear until the cord comes free or one player quits from the pain. The game has been omitted from some Arctic sports competitions due to safety concerns and the squeamishness of spectators; the event can cause bleeding and competitors sometimes
require stitches.

The World Eskimo-Indian Olympics (or WEIO) is an annual event held over a four-day period in July or August, designed to preserve cultural practices and traditional survival skills essential to life in circumpolar areas of the world. The WEIO features games rooted in ancestral hunting and survival techniques employed by Native Americans, as well as dance and storytelling competitions.